LONGMONT -- With RTD considering whether to keep Longmont's planned rail route or toss it in favor of a "rapid transit" bus system, Longmont's leaders made it clear they didn't want to be left standing on the curb.

"If I don't see some kind of guarantee that we're going to get our needs met, I'm going to be very vocal in saying 'Screw you all,'" Councilman Brian Bagley told representatives of the Regional Transportation District during a joint meeting Wednesday night between RTD, the council and the city's transportation board.

As originally planned for the FasTracks commuter rail system, approved by voters in 2004, Longmont would be served by the Northwest Rail Corridor. But in late 2011, revised RTD cost estimates showed it would take more than $1.7 billion to build that line. Under the current FasTracks sales tax and schedule, that means the northwest corridor wouldn't be complete until 2042; if the district pushes for and gets an additional four-tenths tax, that could be accelerated to 2024.

That's left the district considering three options: build the corridor out as planned, delay the corridor but increase bus service to Longmont in the interim, or forget the corridor altogether and go with bus rapid transit or BRT system. That last choice would run about $894 million, with routes leaving every seven and a half minutes to Denver during peak times and every 15 minutes otherwise, and could be completed by 2020.

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All three options assume a successful sales tax campaign. Without that, RTD general manager Phil Washington said, the district is back to the original plan on the slower schedule.

The RTD board won't make its choice until March 8, but Councilman Gabe Santos said that it felt like the community was being pushed.

"It looks like it's a done deal, that the Northwest Rail Corridor is going to be canceled and all we're going to get is BRT," Santos said. "That's the general perception. How can I honestly trust RTD to have our best interests at heart when you're cutting our (local bus) routes?"

Washington insisted that RTD was keeping all its options open and that the train was "more sexy," but that the key question was getting the best transportation option to Longmont, whether that was by bus or train.

"We are trying to do the very best we can with what we've got," he said.

"The other two options I can deal with," Santos said. "And if the tax doesn't pass and it takes 'til 2042, I'll take my cane and go on the train and ride once. But not bringing it to Longmont is not an option."

A dozen area legislators have agreed, demanding in a letter to RTD that it give the northwest line an equal priority to the rail line being built from downtown Denver to Denver International Airport.

"We've got to hang together on this one," said Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont, one of the signatories.

The delays in getting a Longmont line, or the possibility of not getting one at all, have led some residents to suggest seceding from RTD. That can be done, RTD officials said, but Longmont would still be on the hook for its share of the original FasTracks tax and any outstanding bonded debt.

"Oh, that'd go over well," one person said softly.

Mayor Dennis Coombs said he was open to looking at all the options, but that what ultimately mattered was whether Longmont would back the choice.

"It comes down to 'What can we sell to the voters?'" he said.

Washington said that if the bus option was decided on, that RTD would guarantee in the ballot to keep the same service frequency through at least 2025.

Loveland City Councilwoman Joan Shaffer urged Longmont to stick with rail and that RTD hadn't given itself nearly enough time to campaign on a sales tax if it took that route. She made the case that Loveland commuters would be affected by whatever Longmont ends up with.

"This is not planned for winning," she said.

But Gene Allen, who had been a city planner when Longmont joined RTD, told officials that he thought the bus plan was best.

"I am in favor of taking the bus route and forget about dealing with the railroad," he said. "I've laid awake at night thinking about it, and I think this is best, as a planner, as a resident and as a taxpayer."

The City Council will consider the issue at either its Feb. 21 or Feb. 28 meeting.

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